Ladytron / CSS

The Vic, Chicago, IL; 6 October 2006

Although scheduled to do so, CSS didn't play the Lawrence, Kansas gig with Ladytron the night after this one. Rumors fluttered about that these tourmates had gotten in a little tourbus altercation that resulted in an allegedly nasty tour breakup. It wasn't true, but it wouldn't have been surprising if it were-- the two acts couldn't be more at odds, with Ladytron all sleek black attire, cosmopolitan sheen, and icy professionalism, and CSS all thrift, kitsch, and ramshackle sleaze, a bemused mass of mismatched color and texture. They're from two different hemispheres, for crissakes. And, sure, they're both danceable, but it's hardly the same kind of danceable.

Along with a handful of really strong tunes, CSS's real catch is unabashed outrageousness. When the necessary give and take is there, it can be pretty goddamn amazing, like when the raucous sextet took on a high noon tent crowd at this summer's Pitchfork Music Festival. Those kids ate it up: they were screaming and flailing and busting moves all over the place, eager to receive front-lady Lovefoxxx each of the half dozen times she stage dove and crowd-surfed, and clamoring for her sweat-n-beer-soaked hair extensions when she haphazardly flung them into the crowd afterwards.

But when put before a lukewarm indoor audience with a few diehards and a whole bunch of Ladytron's chilled out MySpace buddies, CSS came across a bit desperate. They handled themselves well enough here, with charismatic Lovefoxxx removing a couple garments, shouting out Aaliyah and Oprah, and shimmying through the crowd at one point.

Technical problems stymied her bandmates, however, and a few songs into the set a slightly exasperated Lovefoxxx queried, "I'm not allowed to crowd-surf here, am I?"-- less an actual question and more an apology to CSS-heads and those whom hype drove to the Vic that they wouldn't be getting the complete CSS experience. Blame the Man, man.

Ladytron, on the other hand, owned this space. They carted along an impressive light (& magic) show: six multi-hued, rectangular numbers that bathed the stage in industrial red as the band entered, then went strobe crazy during the extended, white-noisy outros to jams like 604's "He Took Her to a Movie", and a video projection flanked by two huge grids of 144 flashbulbs apiece. Just a wee bit like, yes, Tron.

These professionals knew their best songs and precisely when to bust them out for maximum crowd-stoking effect: they ended the main set with "Playgirl" and saved "Destroy Everything You Touch" for the encore, spaced out a couple of the colder, Bulgarian-tongued tracks sung by Mira Aroyo, and hit touchstones from each of their albums-- the only notable omission being "Another Breakfast With You".

Best of all, they let that icy façade melt a bit, with centerstage vocalist Helena Marnie standing akimbo and injecting Light & Magic standout "Seventeen" with a touch of sass absent on the recorded version, and the whole crew's cool, collected countenance dissolving into excited chatter when some goof tossed a condom balloon onstage. A venue worker finally removed it, prompting wry Aroyo to have the last word: "It's safe now."